A portable electronic device, such as a portable radiotelephone, employs a speaker to convert electrical signals into sound waves in the human-audible frequency range of 20 Hertz (Hz) to 20,000 kilo-Hertz (kHz). When positioned against the user's ear during private operation, the speaker enables a user of the radiotelephone to hear a representation of a caller's voice, as well as other sounds such as dial tones. It is desirable to use the same speaker for handsfree operation in order to minimize cost and size of the portable electronic device. In order for the speaker to produce an acceptable sound pressure level in the human-audible frequency range during handsfree operation, the speaker needs to have a relatively high compliance. A high compliance speaker can be characterized as having a relatively large effective air volume. If the effective air volume of such a high compliance speaker is large with respect to the air volume that the speaker is radiating into, and also large with respect to the air cavity that the speaker is mounted in, then the low frequency response of the speaker is significantly reduced. This degradation in the low frequency response occurs when a high compliance speaker is held up to the user's ear during private operation of the portable electronic device.
Accordingly, a need therefore exists for a speaker and housing assembly for small portable radio telephones, which is tuned to provide acceptable audio quality in both handsfree and private operation.